1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and methods. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an infusion catheter and methods for its use in delivering substances to vasculature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catheters are used for delivering drugs through vasculature and other body lumens for a wide variety of purposes. It is often desirable to deliver thrombolytic and other substances to the peripheral vasculature, in particular the peripheral venous vasculature, in order to lyse and help remove clots in patients suffering from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and other conditions. A number of catheters have been proposed for this purpose. For example, the catheter illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,114 includes a pre-shaped spiral coil at its distal end, where the coil can be reduced to a smaller diameter by axially advancing a core wire to facilitate introduction into the vasculature. Although the benefits of such a pre-shaped coil are clearly evident, since the maximum diameter of the coil is fixed, the coil may be too small to treat relatively large blood vessels and may have difficulty in adequately conforming to and delivering thrombolytic and other agents throughout the length of the vessel to be treated especially in vessels of varying diameters. Thus, it would be desirable to provide alternative and improved catheters and methods for delivering thrombolytic agents to the venous and other vasculature.